Bancroft, Hubert H., Ranchhouse · Photo: Flickr user Allan Ferguson · CC BY 2.0Unemployment in Spring Valley (10.5%) is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
Only 3% work in Spring Valley; the top destination outside it is San Diego (45%, 11 miles). For jobs and income Spring Valley is better than 62% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (A−). Measured by household income, Spring Valley is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Spring Valley at work: what stands out
Nearly half of Spring Valley works in San Diego
5,916 working residents, 45%, have their main job in San Diego, 11 miles away. That’s 15 times as many as work in Spring Valley itself. The commute map ↓
Spring Valley is a place people come home to
There are 3,675 jobs based in Spring Valley, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Spring Valley has about 22,000 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Spring Valley makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Spring Valley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Spring Valley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 15%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Spring Valley
Job access by car holds Spring Valley’s grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spring Valley could be anywhere from B to B+.
Where the trip to work from Spring Valley ends
Where Spring Valley clocks in
45% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How many people are in Spring Valley by day
On a workday 12,792 residents head out to work, 388 work right here, and 3,287 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Spring Valley on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.28 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Factories, building and farms: 35% of the jobs in Spring Valley
3,675 jobs are based in Spring Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Valley, 2013 → 2023: 3,234 → 3,675. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Spring Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Spring Valley: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Valley workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,908 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from Spring Valley, by distance
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Spring Valley is easy on foot, hard by bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 15,561 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 17% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.3% of Spring Valley households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Spring Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spring Valley places 775th of 1,368 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 22,000 to 43,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 773 | Hobart IN | 29,298 | $75K | 10.0% | 4.3% | 14% | B |
| 774 | Delhi Township MI | 28,431 | $90K | 10.3% | 5.1% | 8% | B |
| 775 | Spring Valley CA | 31,969 | $109K | 9.5% | 10.5% | 3% | B |
| 776 | Grand Blanc Township MI | 40,022 | $85K | 8.7% | 5.1% | 8% | B |
| 777 | East Hampton NY | 29,400 | $132K | 10.4% | 3.6% | 41% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,368 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Spring Valley, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door to Spring Valley
The biggest share goes to La Mesa (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Valley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Valley | – | B | A− | 26 min | $109,110 |
| La Presa | under 2% | B | A− | 27 min | $93,479 |
| Casa de Oro-Mount Helix | 1% | A | B+ | 26 min | $125,107 |
| Lemon Grove | under 2% | B+ | A | 29 min | $88,009 |
| Rancho San Diego | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 28 min | $118,682 |
| La Mesa | 5% | B | A | 24 min | $95,028 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spring Valley’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Spring Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Valley?
$109,110 (±$7,018) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Valley?
9.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Valley?
26 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spring Valley work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Diego (45%, 11 mi), El Cajon (6%, 5 mi), La Mesa (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spring Valley walkable?
Spring Valley is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Valley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 17% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Valley
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.